


For All My Days Remaining

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [33]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, Secret Relationship, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and they both get to cling to each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 01:43:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17613068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: The world narrowed down to one single word and sudden panic. Tony. Tony was hurt. Tony was hurt and cominghere. Tony might bedying.(Stephen is still working at the hospital when he gets the worst news ever.)





	For All My Days Remaining

**Author's Note:**

> Anon prompted me to write this:  
>  _i have a prompt: imagine that tony and stephen are married and Stephen is still working at the hospital when he hears that tony has been in an accident and is at their hospital and dead/dying. so Stephen has a big freak out, panics, probably throws up from the nerves until christine finds him and tells him it's all fake news and that tony is okay and waiting for him. bonus points for a lot of relieved hugs and tears_
> 
> A while ago I wrote _[Fires that Burn on the Horizon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16898634)_ , a story where Tony and Stephen have been in love since before Iron Man 1 and married since Iron Man 2. I had to invent a ton of backstory to make that particular one work and this is a little snippet of their lives back then when Tony was already Iron Man but Stephen was still a practicing surgeon, far away from anything magic related.
> 
> Title from Sting's _Why Should I Cry For You?_

Stephen had long since given up on listening to the gossip of nurses and other doctors so he didn't even notice that anybody was talking until the words 'Iron Man' filtered through. A heartbeat later he was all ears.

"... has been badly hurt. I've heard he's not going to make it but they're still bringing him here. Imagine the fallout when Tony Stark dies in our hospital. I wouldn't want to be in the ER right now."

The world narrowed down to one single word and sudden panic. Tony. Tony was hurt. Tony was hurt and coming _here_. Tony might be _dying_. Every last shred of composure or logical thinking went out the window as Stephen stormed over to the two nurses.

" _What_ did you say? What happened?!" Automatically his right hand went up to his chest were his wedding band rested on a long chain. "Where is he? Tell me, damn it!"

The two guys looked at him as if he was the devil himself. "Doctor Strange?" one of them asked surprised and a little bit shocked but Stephen didn't have time for any niceties.

"Where. Is. Tony. Stark?" he asked as slowly and clearly as possible. His fear must have been clear to see because there was no comment about this uncharacteristic behavior.

"On route here. ETA in about ten minutes," he got instead.

"Not sure if they still need to hurry though", the other one helpfully pointed out and Stephen couldn't see or hear anything more through the red haze of panic that suddenly enveloped him.

 _I always knew that this was going to happen_ , he thought as he stumbled through the corridors to his office. He had to get away, away from everything. _Go down there, be with him_ , his inner voice nudged him be he just couldn't. He couldn't look at the lifeless body of his husband, the thought of never again seeing those expressive eyes sparkling with amusement or shining with pure love and adoration was just too much.

The door closed behind him with a bang and Stephen had just enough mental capacity left to lock it behind him before he sank down on the floor, already unseeing from tears. _Tony, Tony, Tony_ , was the only thing he could think of and while he tried hard to control his breathing and not succumb to the threatening panic attack he could feel himself slipping.

He'd left all those things behind even before he'd met Tony. He had worked hard to get through the nightmare that had been his childhood and teenage years and managed to build a stable and healthy life for himself first and then another, even better one, on the side of the man he loved more than anything. But that had been before Tony had been captured in Afghanistan and returned to him with a broken body, a hurt soul and more panic attacks than any human should ever have to suffer through in a lifetime.

Stephen had known from the moment he'd seen the arc reactor and the suit that he would lose Tony to them someday. Knowing didn't make it any easier, though.

The tears became sobs and after a moment Stephen was curled up on the floor, unseeing and unhearing, caught in an ever-repeating loop of "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Tony, I love you, I'm sorry, don't leave me".

He didn't even hear Christine opening the door with her key a couple of minutes later and only distantly felt her embrace. She whispered something to him but he couldn't comprehend the words. He heard some variations of "Tony" and "it's going to be okay" but everything else was a blur.

*

"You're free to go, Mr. Stark."

Tony grinned at the pained tone in the Doctors voice. "Thank you so much for respecting my wishes," he finally said and hoped off the examination table. He even managed to keep the grin on his face and not show how much the landing had hurt his knee and his back.

"You know I still recommend that you..."

"Yes, yes, I hear you," Tony said while not even listening. "I just don't care." He hadn't listened or cared for a while now - ever since he'd realized that he was in Stephen's hospital and that his husband hadn't shown up yet. Stephen didn't have an operation this day - he was supposed to just review cases and doing consulting work today - and Christine had promised to get him as soon as she had laid eyes on Tony in the ER. He should have heard of Tony's arrival and be here by now.

The fact that he wasn't hurt more than the injuries. It also made each and every of his internal alarms go off and he just wanted to get this check-up over with so that he could go and hunt down his man.

"... you can go, if you really want."

Finally. "Great! You can find me in Dr. Strange's office."

He was out of the door before the Doctor had even a chance to react.

*

The door to Stephen's office was closed, which wasn't unusual. Tony - against his usual style - knocked on it before he tried to open it.

It was locked.

"Stephen?" he called softly after a look over his shoulder had assured him that he was alone in the corridor. It wouldn't be long until the vultures of the press would appear here and haunt the poor ER doctor regarding his condition. His annual contributions to the hospital funds should be enough to keep the guy quiet but the hordes would scour the whole building for him and he wanted to be in a closed office and not out in the open when they arrived.

"Stephen, honey?" he dared to say and was relieved when the key was finally turned and the door opened. But it was Christine, who peeked out and not the one he really wanted.

"Tony! Thank God, you're finally here," was her greeting before she reached out and dragged him into the room. His knee protested against the sudden movement and he froze in the middle of the room and almost cried out in pain. "Come in here and tell him that you're okay, he's not believing me," she hissed but Tony suddenly couldn't move as the pain in his knee was joined by the one in his back. He felt tears in his eyes and hated himself for it.

Fuck, maybe he was really more banged up than he thought. "Just... just give me a moment," he begged as he fought against the pain, his eyes squeezed shut.

Distantly he heard the door closing again but much more important was the beloved and hoarse voice of Stephen who asked "Tony?" in a far more insecure tone than Tony had heard in a long time.

He forced his eyes open again and blinked away the tears. The moment he saw Stephen the tears were back but this time they weren't because of the pain. "What happened?" he asked and slowly went to Stephen just as his husband came to him. They met in the middle of the office. "Stephen?" he asked again when Stephen just stared at him through wet lashes. He was trembling all over and Tony suddenly _knew_. It had been quite a while since Stephen's last panic attack - in the last few years they had become Tony's specialty, after all - but he still knew the signs by heart.

"Come here," he said and forced the pain in his knee and back aside for the moment. He had other, more important, things to worry about now. Stephen immediately came into his offered embrace and buried his head in Tony's neck.

"You're here, you're here," he whispered over and over again and Tony swallowed hard as he tried to comfort Stephen through touch alone.

"What happened?" he asked Christine when it became clear that Stephen wasn't able to answer any questions right now. He wanted to sit down, he wanted to get his weight of his knee but he couldn't. Not when Stephen needed him. He altered his stance to put most of his weight onto his left leg and swallowed another cry of pain when his back protested against the movement.

"You're hurt," Stephen said before Christine could answer. He put his head back up and really looked at Tony for the first time. The doctor in him came to life and from one second to the next Doctor Stephen Strange, famed neurosurgeon, was back in the driver's seat and the insecure mess was shoved aside to be dealt with later. "What happened?" he echoed Tony's words.

Ah, now the inquisitor had arrived, too. Tony winced and looked to Christine for help but she only shook her head and crossed her arms.

"I botched a landing and somehow it got caught on live TV and things... might have escalated rather quickly." The vultures had been at his side and screaming questions at him even before JARVIS had a chance to reboot the flight system.

"They said that you were dead. Or at least dying." Stephen's voice broke on the last word and here it was - the reason why he had broken down.

 _Damn._ They'd had this conversation only about a thousand times by now and it seemed that another round would follow soon.

Stephen took a step back to assess the damage. "Your knee?" Tony nodded miserably. "And?"

"My back, from when I smashed into the ground."

He winced as those clever, strong fingers danced over his spine and found the hurting spot in less than ten seconds.

"Let me guess: You got checked out down there, they told you that you're not dying and you elected to go."

Another nod. "But I already knew that I was not dying. JARVIS told me so. I'm just bruised." He was so busy shoveling his own grave that he only noticed that Stephen had moved down to his right knee when it hurt because Stephen touched it. "Ouch," he offered weakly and got an murderous glare not only from Stephen but also Christine.

"Just bruised", Stephen muttered as he led Tony to the big and rather inviting couch that dominated one corner of the office and helped him down, before going to his knees to inspect the damage better. Tony could have cried from the relief sitting brought. "Christine?"

"On it," she said after a moment. "I'll get everything ready and if you get him down in about fifteen minutes I can make sure that nobody will see the two of you." She was gone before Tony could say something.

"Down where?" he dared to ask.

"Down in the basement where we keep the really expensive - and _heavy_ \- equipment you more or less paid for", Stephen answered absently while he carefully touched Tony's knee. "You'll get an X-Ray and an MRI and after that we'll see what else is needed."

"Stephen, honey." Tony used his fingers to raise Stephen's chin to force the man to look at him. "I'm okay. Nothing's broken, nothing's torn. I'm just bruised. You haven't lost me."

"Yet," Stephen muttered and just like that the tears were back.

 _Fuck._ Tony closed his eyes and bit back the groan of frustration that wanted to escape. He wasn't ready for this conversation. "It was just a mistake, nothing more. I wasn't in any danger."

"This time."

"Do you really want to do this now?"

Stephen gave in with a sigh before he raised up enough to press a kiss on the tip of Tony's nose. "Not really, no," he said and Tony relaxed immediately and embraced Stephen as well as he could.

"Good. Me neither. Just check me out yourself so that you can be assured that I'm okay and then I want to go home and be pampered by my loving husband." Stephen didn't look happy but at least he didn't protest. For now. From long experience Tony knew what he could expect from the next few days. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he finally offered and hated the way Stephen deflated at the words.

"Don't be. I'm sorry for breaking down like that. I should have known better and asked questions before running to hide in my office like a scared child."

 _You have your reasons._ Tony didn't say anything to that. It had taken years before Stephen was comfortable enough in their relationship to tell him about the nightmare that been his childhood and the abuse in his teenage years and it was amazing how far he'd come. That he still could be with Tony despite the whole Iron Man thing was a miracle he didn't take for granted. Not even for a second. But he knew better than to talk about any of that right now.

"I'm all yours now. Let your inner doctor out to play and when he's happy that I'm alive and well I want my husband back", he said instead. That got him a smile. God, he _loved_ Stephen's smile; it lit up his whole world. "We're still on for dinner tonight?"

"If by 'dinner' you mean me spoiling you rotten in the comforts of our bedroom? Then yes. If you think that we'll get dressed up and out I might have to check your head for a concussion or worse."

Tony deflated but forced an answering smile on his face. "Worth a try," he muttered.

"Besides," Stephen said. "You know that I have this charity gala thing in three days. That'll be enough publicity for one week. Let me have my peace for as long as I can have it." The hummed the first few notes of _All the Single Ladies_ and Tony burst out laughing while making a disgusted grimace.

"Okay, okay." Tony held up a hand and Stephen helped him up. "Have mercy on me. I don't want to contemplate you being hunted down by half the eligible bachelorettes of the upper class. It's enough that I have to see it from afar." Tony wasn't invited to the gala and Stephen couldn't just drag Tony Stark there as his plus one, no matter how much they both might want it.

"You're just disappointed because I got invited somewhere and you didn't."

"Am I disappointed that you're going to some fancy party and I can't be the trophy husband hanging on your arm and giving you a wide-eyed stare of adoration? Fuck yes, I am!"

Stephen sighed and carefully caressed Tony's back. "You know I would take you there in a heartbeat if I could," he said. "I would love nothing more than to show you off, maybe dance with you and scandalize the whole world, but…"

"I know." It was Tony's turn to sigh. "But. I really hate that word." He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. "Let's get this over with. I want to be spoiled as soon as possible." He watched in awe as Stephen got up from the floor - the incredible grace in the movements of his husbands would never cease to amaze him - before he held out his hands. Stephen took them in a strong grip and carefully helped him up.

"Ready?" he asked softly and Tony nodded. Suddenly, he was tired and exhausted.

"I just want to go home."

Stephen took most of his weight as he led him to the door. "I know, my love. I'll get you there as soon as I know that you're okay. Just hold on for a little bit longer, okay?"

"Okay." Tony closed his eyes and trusted Stephen to get him where he needed to be. "Hey, honey?" he said when the elevator doors had closed behind them. They were still holding on to each other.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." He forced his eyes open just in time to see the joy his words brought to Stephen's face.

Stephen bent down to kiss him slowly and tenderly. "I love you, too."

*

Christine was waiting for them when the elevator arrived at its destination and helped Stephen in dealing with an almost asleep Tony. After the examination, when even Stephen was satisfied that there was no permanent damage to him, Christine helped Stephen and the by now arrived Pepper in getting Tony home and installed in their bedroom.

Stephen stayed with Tony, of course, while the two women treated themselves to a glass of wine from the excellent bar.

"One day they'll have to go public with their relationship." Pepper looked deep into her glass and almost whispered the words. All of them were afraid of that day and the consequences that would follow.

Christine didn't say anything for a long time. Finally she took a long swallow and nodded. "Let them enjoy the little time of peace they have left," she finally said. "It'll will catch up with them soon enough." She gently clinked her glass against Pepper's and smiled. "To a better tomorrow and may the outing be long off."

Pepper smiled back after a moment. "To a better tomorrow."

**Author's Note:**

> [Original ask](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/182456687881/days-remaining) with a little bit more of author's notes.


End file.
